


Lost Moon

by whensheflies



Category: Pirates of the Caribbean (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Fountain of Youth, Fountain of Youth AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-26
Updated: 2015-04-26
Packaged: 2018-03-25 23:05:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3828274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whensheflies/pseuds/whensheflies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Immortality takes its toll.  Jack and Elizabeth have found the Fountain of Youth and now they must learn to live with their choice and all the things that come with living forever young. Post-AWE.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lost Moon

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted at lj in 2009.

Sometimes, Jack catches the light of the moon in Elizabeth’s eyes. And when she leaves him from time to time to hold her mysterious silent vigils, he sees the same moonlight reflected in the inky wakes of the sea.

This time he waits for her, tracing figures idly in the white sand of an untouched and forgotten beach on the coast of Western Australia. He’s lost track of the years, something Elizabeth holds against him, feeling that some things are better left forgotten.

He lights a cigarette while he waits, enveloping himself in a cloud of clove-scented smoke. It’s not a habit he’s proud of, but he likes the taste and he enjoys even more the look of desire in Elizabeth’s eyes when he takes a lingering drag.

“Jack.” She says, emerging from the brush. She stands a stride’s length from him as if hesitant to make contact.

“I didn’t hear you. Wasn’t expecting you so suddenly.” Jack takes in her appearance with wonder. She looks as vibrant as the day she took her rightful place with the Brethren Court. Of course, she has traded her Singapore armor for denim and leather. Her golden hair grows ever longer and Jack finds himself wanting to reach out and grasp it. Because behind her ever youthful glow, Jack sees the truth.

Elizabeth’s dark eyes hold eternity’s sorrow in their depths, something Jack learned he could no longer fix.

“Who was it this time?” he asks hesitantly.

“John James Sparrow. Struck by a speeding car. He was just a boy.” Her voice, her resolve cracks and she stumbles into Jack’s arms.

“Bloody hell.” He says, breathing in the sweet smell of her. He had hoped, once, that after centuries of witnessing their children and their children’s children pass on from this life, Elizabeth would handle it easier.

But it never was easier. If at all, Jack notices that with each death, Elizabeth finds it harder to cope.

“Did Will come?” he asks, holding her close.

“No, not this time.”

“I’m sorry, love.” He kisses her temple and listens to the waves crash against the shoreline, a siren song begging him back to his home.

“Don’t you ever wonder about us? Maybe we made the wrong choice. Maybe this is our punishment for immortality.” She pulls back, her gaze fierce with indignation.

He takes her by the shoulders and holds her firmly. “I don’t, Elizabeth. I don’t. This is our life. And it may be bloody miserable at times, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Not if it meant losing you. Come here.” He takes something from his pocket. It is a turquoise bead that catches the moonlight and glows as he wraps it in a strand of her hair. She wears them, one for each child she’s lost.

She smiles weakly, pressing the turquoise bead to her lips.

He makes love to her tenderly, there on the beach, before he takes her in his arms and carries her back to the ship. Back to the sea. They have now seen three hundred years together. And still, Jack never tires of the horizon of his Pirate King.


End file.
